Storytime: The darkest Shadow (2/5)
This chapter took way to long. I’ve been working on it since… January. o.O
Though I guess this has to do with that I had no clue how to argue Kiryu’s change of heart and took forever to realise what perfect opening episode 55 gave me for this story. XD
You know, originally this fic is what I called Dark Satisfaction!verse, for reasons and plot twists following in this chapter. However… since it’s pretty much established now that that title was MADE for Fumanzoku!verse, I’ve been wondering what the hell this AU is then and came to a pretty nice solution in my eyes.
So welcome to Kiryu’s Wish!verse (since I’ve been thinking way too much about Kiryu and the whole I-wanted-to-play-Team-Satisfactions-Last-Duel-thing. |D).
Enjoy the ride. :D
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's
Characters: Kiryu, Yusei
Genre: Angst/Suspense
Rating: M
Theme: 2b ~For when you die I’ll be there for you
Warnings: AU, Dark!fic, sorta Characterdeath all around |D (and what would you call it when the dead guys hit on each other anyway?)
Summary: Multichap - And for a second a part of Kiryu despaired and wished things could have gone different. He couldn’t let go of his bonds, not when there was still one Last Duel to be fought.
Chapters: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Epilogue
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s. Italic text in the beginning isn’t mine either, it belongs to Matthew Stover and I’m only borrowing.
--- The darkest Shadow ---
--- Part 02: Kiryu ---
The dark is generous, and it is patient.
It is the dark that seeds cruelty into justice, that drips contempt into compassion, that poisons love with grains of doubt.
Like Rudger had foreseen, it certainly was an exceptional duel they were playing; Kiryu acknowledged so much. Yusei, albeit handicapped by the fact that he had no idea of Kiryu’s new and improved deck (as oppose to Kiryu, who knew Yusei deck and strategy just as well as his own), kept fighting defiantly, and certainly without the intention to die anytime soon.
But that was more than alright with Kiryu, he wasn’t about to end the battle this quickly; not after all the time he had waited. Yusei was supposed to suffer, to scream in pain, in fear of what was yet to come.
(And yet, some part of him, the part that had ceased to be angry, ached. Because even though this duel was without a doubt exceptional, it wasn’t enough to satisfy all of him, it whispered. This was NOT Team Satisfactions Last Duel, it whispered, but Kiryu crushed those whispers the moment they crossed his mind.)
He was caught between annoyance and amusement as he watched his enemy avoid one close call after the other and he couldn’t help enjoying the pain he was dealt when Yusei finally called for the counterattack. Not Kiryu hadn’t been anticipating it; Yusei had always been known for his come-from-behind victories. He had learned to watch out for this kind of play in their time as Team Satisfaction.
But with this habit of his, to keep planning and finish his opponent off in one shot when their guard was down the most, Yusei effectively killed himself. Sending Ccapac Apu to his hand and providing him the token he needed for the release, was his undoing.
Kiryu couldn’t help but laugh. Laugh at the irony. Laugh at Yusei, who now instead of gaining victory, stood before a god, a creature that was several millennia old and had spent most of that time sealed beneath the earth waiting for someone like Kiryu to be born and die so that the two of them could become one.
How long had he waited for this moment, for the moment in that he made his former friend, former brother, suffer the same as he had and even more. Wild laughter escaped him once again as he watched how Yusei tried desperately to defend himself, believing at first in the dragon he called his own, the proof that he was an enemy to the dark gods, then in the old, trusty scarecrow trap. He enjoyed the blank look of terror that settled on Yuseis face as both failed him.
He had waited for years, had waited patiently hidden in the darkness for his revenge to resolve and to bring his fated opponents soul before the gods of the underworld. And now as he watched coming to reality, by the hand of the god he controlled, he couldn’t help but laugh in joy and delight.
(And despair. For how could he play their Last Duel, if the four of them weren’t united? How could he ever be truly satisfied by the death of one of his own?)
He laughed as the darkness robbed the light of one of its defenders, swallowing him, leaving nothing behind. He enjoyed the sound of Yusei and Jack and Crow screaming, one in pain, the other two in fear, even though once it would have send him into fear and rage to hear them, his team, being in any state below content.
But this part of him was as good as gone, consumed by the darkness, leaving only this, rage and the thirst for revenge. And so he watched as the man that he had once called his younger brother was crushed by the rage of god, by his own rage, feeling regret, despair and dark satisfaction, that perhaps wasn’t entirely his own, and found that the darkest part within him thought it beautiful.
----
If anyone were to ask Kiryu, just what exactly had happened after the duel, he wouldn’t have been able to answer. Not because he didn’t remember, he did. He remembered watching as Yusei screamed and was crushed. He had witnessed with uttermost delight, how his former teammate disappeared and relished in the disbelieving, anguish cries of Crow and Jack and whatever friends Yusei had made to replace him.
And for a second a part of him (one that that barely surfaced nowadays, the one that would always stay Team Satisfaction Leader) despaired and wished things could have gone different. Whished that his team had understood back then, has fought on his side instead of choosing to undermine him, to betray him. Because this wasn’t true satisfaction. This wasn’t freedom.
Perhaps those better thoughts had been the cause of the following events; or perhaps it had been his gods way of rewarding him (and that was quite possible, or so Demak told him later at least). It could have been the regular outcome of a destined battle, won by a Dark Signer. Or it could have been something entirely else - Kiryu would never know.
He only knew that one moment he had been laughing, mirroring his gods pleasure (and despairing within at the same time), and then been swallowed by blackish purple flames, whisked away back to the Dark Signer lair. And had been surprised to find Yuseis body to his feet, eyes opened wide and dead, but the body itself seemingly unharmed and (what shocked Kiryu the most) his birthmark, the tail of the hated Crimson Dragon, glowing in angry red for the most part except for the centre. The centre of the birthmark had shone in the same purplish black as his own and almost imperceptibly it had seemed to gain power; slowly taking over the crimson.
Before he had had the chance to question himself just what was going on, Rudger had appeared, smiling amused when he saw what price Kiryu had brought home and in what condition it was. Kiryu had almost jumped on him, furiously demanding an explanation about why Yusei was here, why was he breathing when he should be dead and buried?
(And secretly wondered why was a part of him so relieved by this development?)
Rudger hadn’t answered, but then again their self-appointed leader rarely answered straight - if he answered at all - unless he felt like it of course. Instead he had ordered Kiryu and Demak to bring the (former?) Signer in and secure him until the “transition” as he had called it, was complete. They had complied, Kiryu grudgingly and Demak readily (but unlike Kiryu, Demak always followed Rudgers lead without question, almost worshipping the ground their leader walked on).
A few days had passed since then. Days that Kiryu had spent separate from the rest of the Dark Signer, waiting for Yusei to awake. He had done a lot of thinking in that time. Why was Yusei transforming? Had he really been this desperate to stay alive? Had it been actually HIM with his foolish wish to regain his former bonds? Or had it been a mixture of both?
Regardless of that and everything else, he kept his watch. He even ignored the tingling sensation of his mark, telling him that somewhere else kin had awakened, had started stretching her wings, and that close to her another of their kin had engaged the fight with their enemy.
Kiryu wasn’t worried; he would meet them in time. Demak had already left to pick them up and Yusei, who became kin more and more with every passing hour, was more important.
He spent most of his time wondering why, why would the darkness allow Yusei to become one of it’s own. Or perhaps more importantly, why would Yusei wish to be one of the darkness’ children?
Certainly not for revenge like himself, Kiryu believed; Yusei was far too forgiving, far too selfless for that. Back, three years ago, when it had been the four of them against the world, Team Satisfaction against anyone brave enough to challenge their power, he had believed forgiveness to be a defining part of Yusei’s character. That and loyalty to everyone he thought of as comrade.
Except that Yusei had proven that to be false. Had shown his true colours by selling him to ‘them’, showing that he would betray his own to safe is skin (and as he wallowed in those memories, deep inside Kiryu hated himself for forgiving Yusei despite all of this).
But perhaps, he thought, he had found his reason now. Yusei would go out of his way to safe himself, even become a traitor if his comrades, which accepting the darkness effectively made him. Again.
And perhaps it was really connected with his further ambition. Not the one to kill Yusei; he certainly had done so already - Yusei had died after all; he had just failed to cease existing like Kiryu had originally expected him to. His real ambition, his yet unfulfilled desire to play Team Satisfactions Last Duel.
Ultimately that had been the motivation behind that one wish, that he had made in his moment of weakness. (Hadn’t it)
Yes, he thought; grinning in excitement, their reunion, days ago had just been the beginning. Had surely been a sign of underworldly guidance, the darkness’ acknowledgment, telling him reunite all four of them under its mantle. Now that half of them had embraced it, it would be only a question of time (and perhaps a bit of prodding) until the remaining two did too. Because for all their individual quirks, if there was one trait all four of them shared, then it was stubbornness and the will to survive, no matter what.
Kiryu smiled content, pulling out the second deck that was hidden in his robes - Yusei’s - and smirked at the top card, which wasn’t white as it had been, but had turned into the darkest shade of black; signaling the transformation that was taking place.
And when he looked down on Yuseis twitching form, watching him waking up, smiling as he saw how confusion clouded his (former?) comrades eyes.
“Finally awake, are we?”, he called out, eyes gleaming amused as he saw Yusei realizing his surrounding, his rebirth as Dark Signer, his breath hitching in slight panic before he looked up, nervous blue meeting his amused amber eyes and he couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Welcome to hell, Yusei.”
And after a moment of endless seeming silence Yusei spoke up, his voice slightly hoarse, asking: “Wha-what happened… Why…”
Kiryu smiled, suppressing the all instincts to laugh again - he didn’t want to scare Yusei (too much), not now. “Why are you Dark Signer? Who knows~ the Darkness moves in strange ways, you know…”
Yusie just shook his head furiously, drawing breaths that he didn’t need, would never need again. “This isn’t right, I… I shouldn’t be here.”
“And yet you are…” Kiryu smiled, watching, always watching how Yusei shook again in denial - and yet he saw, no matter how hard Yusei tried to hide that little fact: Part if him had already accepted the darkness, enjoyed it even.
He had been right before. Yusei and Jack and Crow alike, all of them posed the sane dark potential as he had and all needed to call it forward at this point would be a little nudge into the right direction, to get them to accept it, this (and then they would be together, all four united again).
He jumped down from the crate he had sat on, his undead heart giving a slight jump in excitement, and landed right before where Yusei had curled himself up, fighting himself, trying to keep reign on his darkest desires.
He crouched down, leaning forward, invading his private sphere; he had a feeling he knew what Yusei was thinking, how he argued with himself; he himself hadn’t felt quite as troubled to accept the darkness, not like he kenw Yusei had to - he had been a being of light far too long not too.
“Don’t fight this.” He advised, keeping his voice as low, as gentle, as soothing as possible. Yusei looked up to him, immediately covering conflict with denial and defiance, as if to say that he had no idea what Kiryu was talking about.
“You feel it.” Kiryu continued unbothered by Yuseis reaction, “You feel the darkness snaking through you, pulsing with rage, with hate, with pain, telling you to seek vengeance against all those who have wronged you.”
“You feel it right here.” he said while placing his hand flat on the younger boys chest, right where his heart wasn’t beating anymore.
“I…” Confusion was evident on in Yuseis expression, he was probably wondering what Kiryu was up to, why was he calling him so directly on his feelings, why did he care, all that was evident in his all too open sapphire gaze. “I…”
Then he shook his head again, conflict marking his face, fighting himself, fighting Kiryu’s words of dark truth.
“Why are you doing this?” he hissed, anger and hate and fear (and far beneath that a hint of acceptance) swirling in his voice. “You hate me. And after what happened that night, I don’t blame you for it.”
Kiryu grimaced, reminded of his own conflicted feelings in that matter (because as much as he would have liked to, as much as he tried to, even with the darkness taking over his heart and mind… hating Yusei, being angry with him was something he had stopped long ago). “You really know how to spoil a moment with unpleasant business, don’t you?”
He averted his eyes in silence, now conflicted himself; should he tell Yusei, what would telling him change (except that then he would have to accept it himself. The fact that in reality, he had never hated Yusei at all…). Hesitatingly he started:
“I wanted to hate you. God, you have no idea how much I wanted to hate you.” He chuckled helplessly, before turning his gaze back to Yusei. “So much that I could actually fool myself into thinking that I did. But…”
He smiled slightly, and for the first time in year there was no anger, no hate on his mind. Only regret. Only a brother’s love. “But seems that I just can’t stay mad at you for long. Not on any of you.”
He saw Yusei calmly studying him, his struggle with his own darkness forgotten for a moment perhaps, frowning, as if about to make a revelation on his own.
“That night…” he began slowly. ”Back that night, is hadn’t been supposed to be you.”
That stunned Kiryu into silence. His eyes widened as he leaned forward, wanting to hear what Yusei was trying to say. What was Yusei meaning with it hadn’t been supposed to be him. Yusei had betrayed him after all. (Hadn’t he?)
“Everything should have gone different…”, the younger boy continued, eyes trained on the ground; he didn’t seem to dare to look at Kiryu right now. “Jack and Crow should have gotten you out. And the one arrested…”
Now he looked up again, regret and pain and sadness all evident in his cobalt eyes. “The one arrested should have been me.”
Kiryu only looked at him, stunned, no, shocked. This had to be a lie. Yusei, Jack, Crow - all of them had betrayed him back then. But what would Yusei get of lying to him now? Why would this be a lie, when it would be so utterly like Yusei to give up on himself all to keep a comrade safe…
“Idiot…”, he chuckled weakly, surprised and glad about the dark when he felt the first tear running down his face. “You are such an idiot…”
And suddenly he was glad about the way fate had worked out. There were far worse fates than becoming Dark Signer. And Kiryu didn’t even want to imagine how things would have changed, had Yusei succeeded in selling himself out. But it was a sign too… His team hadn’t betrayed him. The bonds he had thought lost, all of them still existed. Team Satisfaction had always been meant to be.
And after a few moments of silence between them, he spoke up again. “We’ll need to get Jack and Crow.”
He looked at Yusei, who sat there, silent, questioning, not understanding where the sudden change of subject had come from.
“We need to get Jack and Crow.” Kiryu repeated. “Team Satisfaction has four members after all.”
Yusei frowned and shook his head, perhaps he did realise what Kiryu was on about, what he was planning, and it was clear, he had misgivings: “Team Satisfaciton doesn’t exist anymore. It’s part of the past Kiryu.”
“Then this will be our revival.” Kiryu replied grinning (and part of him hurting that Yusei didn’t share his excitement). “The rebirth of Team Satisfaction.”
“You can’t be serious!” Yusei snapped angrily. “What you plan is insane. You are aware it means to…”
“Kill Jack and Crow?” Kiryu crooked his head, smirking as he dared to complete that sentence for Yusei. “Of course, I know.”
“You can’t be serious…” Yusei shook his head again, his face mirroring the anger, the distress, the despair that only this thought could cause. “What makes you so sure this would work? What if they don’t come back? How do you know that won’t happen?”
He studied the younger’s shaking form, sensing that this was important for him to impress on Yusei, because he needed Yusei, just like he needed the other two. Because once they had been comrades. Once they had been family. And if Kiryu had any say in it, then they would be once again.
“I know, Yusei.” He started, calmly, carefully. “They’ll come back for one simple reason. They are just. like. us. All four of us are the same. Bastards, who claw their way to top without giving up. Not even to death. And only those with the will to live become like us. Only those, who cling to live desperately, willing to endure whatever pain may come for it for whatever reasons they have, only those have earned to be like us.”
They would come back, would become Dark Signer because they had to. Because Kiryu too, wouldn’t be able to bear otherwise. But there was no way that he would tell Yusei that. Instead he asked that one question, that was of real importance right now. Because this was the only bait he had to keep Yusie with him. “You miss them too, don’t you? The time when it was just us four. Just Team Satisfaction.”
Yusei just sat there not looking at him, shaking, whispering: “It isn’t right… We’ll just end up hating each other.”
But when Kiryu caught a glimpse of his eyes he saw: the other had already accepted the darkness in his heart. Most of the work was already done. All that remained was convincing him that this was meant to be. That it was fate itself that bound them together.
He leaned forward again, closing the space between them, bringing their foreheads together and forcing Yusei to look him straight into the eyes.
“Don’t you see?” he asked softly, his voice echoing through the room, weaving itself around them like dark silk threads. “It doesn’t matter! Hate, Love… they all come from the same bonds, bonds that tie us together just as tight as they did then. Shouldn’t someone like you, someone who values those bonds, know that the best?
Yusei looked right back at him, uncertainty and doubt and fear swirling in his eyes. But Kiryu knew he was close. He couldn’t let up now. He reached forward, pulling Yusei to him, smiling when the other didn’t resist and let himself fall into the embrace.
“Don’t worry, Yusei.” He whispered. “Leave everything to me. Everything is going to be just like it was always supposed to be. Everything will be just fine.”
Kiryu threaded his hand through Yusei’s coarse black hair, pretending not to notice how Yusei’s eyes and birthmark glowed up purplish for a moment (because if there was something he was good at then it was ignoring things that he just didn’t want to see…), then the younger boy nodded slowly, eyes gleaming with darkness and determination.
“Ah. Everything will be just fine…”
--- To be Continued ---
I just realized… this is the third time I wrote Kiryu-and-Yusei-in-the-Dark-Signer-HQ…
The setting is always different, but somehow I keep returning to write this sort of scene…
orz
Though I guess this has to do with that I had no clue how to argue Kiryu’s change of heart and took forever to realise what perfect opening episode 55 gave me for this story. XD
You know, originally this fic is what I called Dark Satisfaction!verse, for reasons and plot twists following in this chapter. However… since it’s pretty much established now that that title was MADE for Fumanzoku!verse, I’ve been wondering what the hell this AU is then and came to a pretty nice solution in my eyes.
So welcome to Kiryu’s Wish!verse (since I’ve been thinking way too much about Kiryu and the whole I-wanted-to-play-Team-Satisfactions-Last-Duel-thing. |D).
Enjoy the ride. :D
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's
Characters: Kiryu, Yusei
Genre: Angst/Suspense
Rating: M
Theme: 2b ~For when you die I’ll be there for you
Warnings: AU, Dark!fic, sorta Characterdeath all around |D (and what would you call it when the dead guys hit on each other anyway?)
Summary: Multichap - And for a second a part of Kiryu despaired and wished things could have gone different. He couldn’t let go of his bonds, not when there was still one Last Duel to be fought.
Chapters: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Epilogue
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s. Italic text in the beginning isn’t mine either, it belongs to Matthew Stover and I’m only borrowing.
--- The darkest Shadow ---
--- Part 02: Kiryu ---
The dark is generous, and it is patient.
It is the dark that seeds cruelty into justice, that drips contempt into compassion, that poisons love with grains of doubt.
Like Rudger had foreseen, it certainly was an exceptional duel they were playing; Kiryu acknowledged so much. Yusei, albeit handicapped by the fact that he had no idea of Kiryu’s new and improved deck (as oppose to Kiryu, who knew Yusei deck and strategy just as well as his own), kept fighting defiantly, and certainly without the intention to die anytime soon.
But that was more than alright with Kiryu, he wasn’t about to end the battle this quickly; not after all the time he had waited. Yusei was supposed to suffer, to scream in pain, in fear of what was yet to come.
(And yet, some part of him, the part that had ceased to be angry, ached. Because even though this duel was without a doubt exceptional, it wasn’t enough to satisfy all of him, it whispered. This was NOT Team Satisfactions Last Duel, it whispered, but Kiryu crushed those whispers the moment they crossed his mind.)
He was caught between annoyance and amusement as he watched his enemy avoid one close call after the other and he couldn’t help enjoying the pain he was dealt when Yusei finally called for the counterattack. Not Kiryu hadn’t been anticipating it; Yusei had always been known for his come-from-behind victories. He had learned to watch out for this kind of play in their time as Team Satisfaction.
But with this habit of his, to keep planning and finish his opponent off in one shot when their guard was down the most, Yusei effectively killed himself. Sending Ccapac Apu to his hand and providing him the token he needed for the release, was his undoing.
Kiryu couldn’t help but laugh. Laugh at the irony. Laugh at Yusei, who now instead of gaining victory, stood before a god, a creature that was several millennia old and had spent most of that time sealed beneath the earth waiting for someone like Kiryu to be born and die so that the two of them could become one.
How long had he waited for this moment, for the moment in that he made his former friend, former brother, suffer the same as he had and even more. Wild laughter escaped him once again as he watched how Yusei tried desperately to defend himself, believing at first in the dragon he called his own, the proof that he was an enemy to the dark gods, then in the old, trusty scarecrow trap. He enjoyed the blank look of terror that settled on Yuseis face as both failed him.
He had waited for years, had waited patiently hidden in the darkness for his revenge to resolve and to bring his fated opponents soul before the gods of the underworld. And now as he watched coming to reality, by the hand of the god he controlled, he couldn’t help but laugh in joy and delight.
(And despair. For how could he play their Last Duel, if the four of them weren’t united? How could he ever be truly satisfied by the death of one of his own?)
He laughed as the darkness robbed the light of one of its defenders, swallowing him, leaving nothing behind. He enjoyed the sound of Yusei and Jack and Crow screaming, one in pain, the other two in fear, even though once it would have send him into fear and rage to hear them, his team, being in any state below content.
But this part of him was as good as gone, consumed by the darkness, leaving only this, rage and the thirst for revenge. And so he watched as the man that he had once called his younger brother was crushed by the rage of god, by his own rage, feeling regret, despair and dark satisfaction, that perhaps wasn’t entirely his own, and found that the darkest part within him thought it beautiful.
----
If anyone were to ask Kiryu, just what exactly had happened after the duel, he wouldn’t have been able to answer. Not because he didn’t remember, he did. He remembered watching as Yusei screamed and was crushed. He had witnessed with uttermost delight, how his former teammate disappeared and relished in the disbelieving, anguish cries of Crow and Jack and whatever friends Yusei had made to replace him.
And for a second a part of him (one that that barely surfaced nowadays, the one that would always stay Team Satisfaction Leader) despaired and wished things could have gone different. Whished that his team had understood back then, has fought on his side instead of choosing to undermine him, to betray him. Because this wasn’t true satisfaction. This wasn’t freedom.
Perhaps those better thoughts had been the cause of the following events; or perhaps it had been his gods way of rewarding him (and that was quite possible, or so Demak told him later at least). It could have been the regular outcome of a destined battle, won by a Dark Signer. Or it could have been something entirely else - Kiryu would never know.
He only knew that one moment he had been laughing, mirroring his gods pleasure (and despairing within at the same time), and then been swallowed by blackish purple flames, whisked away back to the Dark Signer lair. And had been surprised to find Yuseis body to his feet, eyes opened wide and dead, but the body itself seemingly unharmed and (what shocked Kiryu the most) his birthmark, the tail of the hated Crimson Dragon, glowing in angry red for the most part except for the centre. The centre of the birthmark had shone in the same purplish black as his own and almost imperceptibly it had seemed to gain power; slowly taking over the crimson.
Before he had had the chance to question himself just what was going on, Rudger had appeared, smiling amused when he saw what price Kiryu had brought home and in what condition it was. Kiryu had almost jumped on him, furiously demanding an explanation about why Yusei was here, why was he breathing when he should be dead and buried?
(And secretly wondered why was a part of him so relieved by this development?)
Rudger hadn’t answered, but then again their self-appointed leader rarely answered straight - if he answered at all - unless he felt like it of course. Instead he had ordered Kiryu and Demak to bring the (former?) Signer in and secure him until the “transition” as he had called it, was complete. They had complied, Kiryu grudgingly and Demak readily (but unlike Kiryu, Demak always followed Rudgers lead without question, almost worshipping the ground their leader walked on).
A few days had passed since then. Days that Kiryu had spent separate from the rest of the Dark Signer, waiting for Yusei to awake. He had done a lot of thinking in that time. Why was Yusei transforming? Had he really been this desperate to stay alive? Had it been actually HIM with his foolish wish to regain his former bonds? Or had it been a mixture of both?
Regardless of that and everything else, he kept his watch. He even ignored the tingling sensation of his mark, telling him that somewhere else kin had awakened, had started stretching her wings, and that close to her another of their kin had engaged the fight with their enemy.
Kiryu wasn’t worried; he would meet them in time. Demak had already left to pick them up and Yusei, who became kin more and more with every passing hour, was more important.
He spent most of his time wondering why, why would the darkness allow Yusei to become one of it’s own. Or perhaps more importantly, why would Yusei wish to be one of the darkness’ children?
Certainly not for revenge like himself, Kiryu believed; Yusei was far too forgiving, far too selfless for that. Back, three years ago, when it had been the four of them against the world, Team Satisfaction against anyone brave enough to challenge their power, he had believed forgiveness to be a defining part of Yusei’s character. That and loyalty to everyone he thought of as comrade.
Except that Yusei had proven that to be false. Had shown his true colours by selling him to ‘them’, showing that he would betray his own to safe is skin (and as he wallowed in those memories, deep inside Kiryu hated himself for forgiving Yusei despite all of this).
But perhaps, he thought, he had found his reason now. Yusei would go out of his way to safe himself, even become a traitor if his comrades, which accepting the darkness effectively made him. Again.
And perhaps it was really connected with his further ambition. Not the one to kill Yusei; he certainly had done so already - Yusei had died after all; he had just failed to cease existing like Kiryu had originally expected him to. His real ambition, his yet unfulfilled desire to play Team Satisfactions Last Duel.
Ultimately that had been the motivation behind that one wish, that he had made in his moment of weakness. (Hadn’t it)
Yes, he thought; grinning in excitement, their reunion, days ago had just been the beginning. Had surely been a sign of underworldly guidance, the darkness’ acknowledgment, telling him reunite all four of them under its mantle. Now that half of them had embraced it, it would be only a question of time (and perhaps a bit of prodding) until the remaining two did too. Because for all their individual quirks, if there was one trait all four of them shared, then it was stubbornness and the will to survive, no matter what.
Kiryu smiled content, pulling out the second deck that was hidden in his robes - Yusei’s - and smirked at the top card, which wasn’t white as it had been, but had turned into the darkest shade of black; signaling the transformation that was taking place.
And when he looked down on Yuseis twitching form, watching him waking up, smiling as he saw how confusion clouded his (former?) comrades eyes.
“Finally awake, are we?”, he called out, eyes gleaming amused as he saw Yusei realizing his surrounding, his rebirth as Dark Signer, his breath hitching in slight panic before he looked up, nervous blue meeting his amused amber eyes and he couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Welcome to hell, Yusei.”
And after a moment of endless seeming silence Yusei spoke up, his voice slightly hoarse, asking: “Wha-what happened… Why…”
Kiryu smiled, suppressing the all instincts to laugh again - he didn’t want to scare Yusei (too much), not now. “Why are you Dark Signer? Who knows~ the Darkness moves in strange ways, you know…”
Yusie just shook his head furiously, drawing breaths that he didn’t need, would never need again. “This isn’t right, I… I shouldn’t be here.”
“And yet you are…” Kiryu smiled, watching, always watching how Yusei shook again in denial - and yet he saw, no matter how hard Yusei tried to hide that little fact: Part if him had already accepted the darkness, enjoyed it even.
He had been right before. Yusei and Jack and Crow alike, all of them posed the sane dark potential as he had and all needed to call it forward at this point would be a little nudge into the right direction, to get them to accept it, this (and then they would be together, all four united again).
He jumped down from the crate he had sat on, his undead heart giving a slight jump in excitement, and landed right before where Yusei had curled himself up, fighting himself, trying to keep reign on his darkest desires.
He crouched down, leaning forward, invading his private sphere; he had a feeling he knew what Yusei was thinking, how he argued with himself; he himself hadn’t felt quite as troubled to accept the darkness, not like he kenw Yusei had to - he had been a being of light far too long not too.
“Don’t fight this.” He advised, keeping his voice as low, as gentle, as soothing as possible. Yusei looked up to him, immediately covering conflict with denial and defiance, as if to say that he had no idea what Kiryu was talking about.
“You feel it.” Kiryu continued unbothered by Yuseis reaction, “You feel the darkness snaking through you, pulsing with rage, with hate, with pain, telling you to seek vengeance against all those who have wronged you.”
“You feel it right here.” he said while placing his hand flat on the younger boys chest, right where his heart wasn’t beating anymore.
“I…” Confusion was evident on in Yuseis expression, he was probably wondering what Kiryu was up to, why was he calling him so directly on his feelings, why did he care, all that was evident in his all too open sapphire gaze. “I…”
Then he shook his head again, conflict marking his face, fighting himself, fighting Kiryu’s words of dark truth.
“Why are you doing this?” he hissed, anger and hate and fear (and far beneath that a hint of acceptance) swirling in his voice. “You hate me. And after what happened that night, I don’t blame you for it.”
Kiryu grimaced, reminded of his own conflicted feelings in that matter (because as much as he would have liked to, as much as he tried to, even with the darkness taking over his heart and mind… hating Yusei, being angry with him was something he had stopped long ago). “You really know how to spoil a moment with unpleasant business, don’t you?”
He averted his eyes in silence, now conflicted himself; should he tell Yusei, what would telling him change (except that then he would have to accept it himself. The fact that in reality, he had never hated Yusei at all…). Hesitatingly he started:
“I wanted to hate you. God, you have no idea how much I wanted to hate you.” He chuckled helplessly, before turning his gaze back to Yusei. “So much that I could actually fool myself into thinking that I did. But…”
He smiled slightly, and for the first time in year there was no anger, no hate on his mind. Only regret. Only a brother’s love. “But seems that I just can’t stay mad at you for long. Not on any of you.”
He saw Yusei calmly studying him, his struggle with his own darkness forgotten for a moment perhaps, frowning, as if about to make a revelation on his own.
“That night…” he began slowly. ”Back that night, is hadn’t been supposed to be you.”
That stunned Kiryu into silence. His eyes widened as he leaned forward, wanting to hear what Yusei was trying to say. What was Yusei meaning with it hadn’t been supposed to be him. Yusei had betrayed him after all. (Hadn’t he?)
“Everything should have gone different…”, the younger boy continued, eyes trained on the ground; he didn’t seem to dare to look at Kiryu right now. “Jack and Crow should have gotten you out. And the one arrested…”
Now he looked up again, regret and pain and sadness all evident in his cobalt eyes. “The one arrested should have been me.”
Kiryu only looked at him, stunned, no, shocked. This had to be a lie. Yusei, Jack, Crow - all of them had betrayed him back then. But what would Yusei get of lying to him now? Why would this be a lie, when it would be so utterly like Yusei to give up on himself all to keep a comrade safe…
“Idiot…”, he chuckled weakly, surprised and glad about the dark when he felt the first tear running down his face. “You are such an idiot…”
And suddenly he was glad about the way fate had worked out. There were far worse fates than becoming Dark Signer. And Kiryu didn’t even want to imagine how things would have changed, had Yusei succeeded in selling himself out. But it was a sign too… His team hadn’t betrayed him. The bonds he had thought lost, all of them still existed. Team Satisfaction had always been meant to be.
And after a few moments of silence between them, he spoke up again. “We’ll need to get Jack and Crow.”
He looked at Yusei, who sat there, silent, questioning, not understanding where the sudden change of subject had come from.
“We need to get Jack and Crow.” Kiryu repeated. “Team Satisfaction has four members after all.”
Yusei frowned and shook his head, perhaps he did realise what Kiryu was on about, what he was planning, and it was clear, he had misgivings: “Team Satisfaciton doesn’t exist anymore. It’s part of the past Kiryu.”
“Then this will be our revival.” Kiryu replied grinning (and part of him hurting that Yusei didn’t share his excitement). “The rebirth of Team Satisfaction.”
“You can’t be serious!” Yusei snapped angrily. “What you plan is insane. You are aware it means to…”
“Kill Jack and Crow?” Kiryu crooked his head, smirking as he dared to complete that sentence for Yusei. “Of course, I know.”
“You can’t be serious…” Yusei shook his head again, his face mirroring the anger, the distress, the despair that only this thought could cause. “What makes you so sure this would work? What if they don’t come back? How do you know that won’t happen?”
He studied the younger’s shaking form, sensing that this was important for him to impress on Yusei, because he needed Yusei, just like he needed the other two. Because once they had been comrades. Once they had been family. And if Kiryu had any say in it, then they would be once again.
“I know, Yusei.” He started, calmly, carefully. “They’ll come back for one simple reason. They are just. like. us. All four of us are the same. Bastards, who claw their way to top without giving up. Not even to death. And only those with the will to live become like us. Only those, who cling to live desperately, willing to endure whatever pain may come for it for whatever reasons they have, only those have earned to be like us.”
They would come back, would become Dark Signer because they had to. Because Kiryu too, wouldn’t be able to bear otherwise. But there was no way that he would tell Yusei that. Instead he asked that one question, that was of real importance right now. Because this was the only bait he had to keep Yusie with him. “You miss them too, don’t you? The time when it was just us four. Just Team Satisfaction.”
Yusei just sat there not looking at him, shaking, whispering: “It isn’t right… We’ll just end up hating each other.”
But when Kiryu caught a glimpse of his eyes he saw: the other had already accepted the darkness in his heart. Most of the work was already done. All that remained was convincing him that this was meant to be. That it was fate itself that bound them together.
He leaned forward again, closing the space between them, bringing their foreheads together and forcing Yusei to look him straight into the eyes.
“Don’t you see?” he asked softly, his voice echoing through the room, weaving itself around them like dark silk threads. “It doesn’t matter! Hate, Love… they all come from the same bonds, bonds that tie us together just as tight as they did then. Shouldn’t someone like you, someone who values those bonds, know that the best?
Yusei looked right back at him, uncertainty and doubt and fear swirling in his eyes. But Kiryu knew he was close. He couldn’t let up now. He reached forward, pulling Yusei to him, smiling when the other didn’t resist and let himself fall into the embrace.
“Don’t worry, Yusei.” He whispered. “Leave everything to me. Everything is going to be just like it was always supposed to be. Everything will be just fine.”
Kiryu threaded his hand through Yusei’s coarse black hair, pretending not to notice how Yusei’s eyes and birthmark glowed up purplish for a moment (because if there was something he was good at then it was ignoring things that he just didn’t want to see…), then the younger boy nodded slowly, eyes gleaming with darkness and determination.
“Ah. Everything will be just fine…”
--- To be Continued ---
I just realized… this is the third time I wrote Kiryu-and-Yusei-in-the-Dark-Signer-HQ…
The setting is always different, but somehow I keep returning to write this sort of scene…
orz